Cambridge International Science Publishing

THE OCCUPATIONAL STRESS INDEX: AN APPROACH DERIVED FROM COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS AND BRAIN RESEARCH FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

Karen Belkic
Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, University of Southern California, USA

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ISBN 1898326029

294 pages
190×230mm
Softback
January 2003

£45/$80
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 This book offers a practical way to apply a methodology derived from cognitive ergonomics and brain research for assessing work stressors: the Occupational Stress Index (OSI), originally developed by the author. To do so, some basic information is first presented about how the brain receives and handles information: the aversions and affinities of the human nervous system in relation to the environment. Two divergent trends in occupational psychosocial research are then discussed. One is represented by theory-based, generic approaches, which tend to be remote from actual work experiences, and therefore are often not helpful for assessing within-occupation variance, the very level at which intervention strategies are developed, in practice. The other trend has been that of occupation-specific inquiries, that provide rich, detailed information often useful for identifying key areas for intervention. These have usually been heavily focused upon a given occupation, such that more generalizable conclusions based upon between-group analyses are often missed. This is precisely where the OSI offers a potential solution, by providing a series of occupation-specific instruments that are all mutually compatible within the OSI theoretical framework: allowing between-occupation comparisons, but at the same time far more operationalized and streamlined than a single generic instrument.

The practical utility of the OSI is demonstrated in the clinical arena, where it provides the basis for preparing a comprehensive occupational history that could be incorporated into the general medical records.

Of interest to occupational health psychologists, industrial hygienists, ergonomists, as well as to labor and management, inter alia, the OSI can also be integrated with objective measurements and expert observer assessment of job characteristics. In particular, the OSI could detect areas for which in-depth observational analysis is needed, especially with a view to possibilities for practical improvements in the work environment.
Contents
Introduction: The Need for the Occupational Stress Index-An Approach Derived from Cognitive Ergonomics and Brain Research for Clinical Practice  
The Impact of Stressful Work on Health  
How Insights from Cognitive Ergonomics and Brain Research Inform our Assessment of The Work Environment  
Occupation-Specific versus Generic Self-Report Measures To Assess Workplace Exposures: The Occupational Stress Index (OSI) as an Additive Burden Model to Help Bridge The Gap    
The Occupational Stress Index In Clinical Practice  
The Revised OSI Questionnaires and Score Sheets  
Conclusions and Future Perspectives  
Bibliographic References